This guide, which is designed for individuals interested in establishing joint endeavors among schools, social service agencies, cultural institutions, businesses, industries, and/or institutions of higher education, illustrates promising practices supporting and reflecting partnership activities. Part 1 is divided into three sections detailing practices supporting partnership building in the following areas: needs assessments (educational, community, and participant-based needs assessments); project staffing (transition of key personnel and volunteer project managers); and initiating activities (identifying and recruiting partners, recruiting volunteers, and recruiting partners). Part 2 includes four sections in which promising practices representing partnership activities in the following areas are described: staff development (cross-agency training, teacher-tutor training, school-based master's degrees); student support services (peer tutor-mentors and business mentors and coaches); school-to-work transition (articulated curricula, job skills workshops, job shadows, health career internships, and business and instructional internships); and community involvement (parent education, resource directories, and public hearings). Concluding the guide is a profile of one promising partnership that encompasses many of the practices described. Appended are the names/addresses of the members of the Educational Partnership Study Group, which conducted the study out of which this guide grew. (MN)

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

This guide includes practices that deal with partnership building, and practices that represent typical partnership activities. Includes examples of educational and community needs assessments; approaches to project staffing; approaches to recruiting partners and volunteers; staff development for social service agency, school, and business personnel; student support services, including mentors and coaches; activities involved in school-to-work transition programs, including job skills workshops, job shadowing, and internships; and community involvement, including parent education and town hall meetings.

A gifted education Legacy Award winner, Best Practices in Gifted Education provides concise, up-to-date, research-based advice to educators, administrators, and parents of gifted and talented youth. The 29 practices included in this volume are the result of an extensive examination of educational research on what works with talented youth. The interest in culturally diverse and low-income learners, the means to identify talents, and the need for curriculum that appropriately challenges high-ability youth constitute just a few of the 29 practices. Each practice is organized into a chapter containing two sections: What We Know and What We Can Do. The first section briefly describes the practice and summarizes the research. The second section suggests what course of action a parent, teacher, or administrator might take at home, in the classroom, or at school. The book is a must-have for those who want a guide that makes a connection between research and practical action in gifted education. A service publication of the National Association for Gifted Children (Washington, DC). This designation indicates that this book has been jointly developed with NAGC and that this book passes the highest standards of scholarship, research, and practice.

Universal Design in Higher Education looks at the design of physical and technological environments at institutions of higher education; at issues pertaining to curriculum and instruction; and at the full array of student services. Universal Design in Higher Education is a comprehensive guide for researchers and practitioners on creating fully accessible college and university programs. It is founded upon, and contributes to, theories of universal design in education that have been gaining increasingly wide attention in recent years. As greater numbers of students with disabilities attend postsecondary educational institutions, administrators have expressed increased interest in making their programs accessible to all students. This book provides both theoretical and practical guidance for schools as they work to turn this admirable goal into a reality. It addresses a comprehensive range of topics on universal design for higher education institutions, thus making a crucial contribution to the growing body of literature on special education and universal design. This book will be of unique value to university and college administrators, and to special education researchers, practitioners, and activists.

This publication¿the latest report from AAC&U¿s Liberal Education and America¿s Promise (LEAP) initiative¿defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers. The report also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to these practices.

Teachers and administrators will learn how to create the respectful, trusting relationships with families necessary to build the educational partnerships that best support children's learning. The book will cover the mindset and core beliefs required to bond with families, and will provide guidance on how to plan engagement opportunities and events throughout the school year that undergird effective partnerships between families and schools.